The article about whether the pensions triple lock should be ditched omits several key facts (‘Costing billions’: is the pensions triple lock a lifeline or simply unaffordable?, 12 September). The triple lock was introduced in 2010 to attempt to reinstate the value of the state pension relative to average earnings. The new state pension is just over £12,547 per annum, as your reporter says; older pensioners get a basic £9,615. Both are well below the European average, which is over €16,000 (about £13,800) per year. The UK median wage is above £39,000 a year. Moreover, the age at which the UK state pension becomes payable is among the highest in Europe.
The discussion on the affordability of the state pension seems to regard it as expenditure for no return. It is not. Pensioners spend money into their local economy, which generates tax revenues in the form of VAT and income tax from younger people who are dependent on pensioner money for their employment. Better-off pensioners pay income tax in the usual way. In fact, a pensioner with any income at all above the new state pension will pay tax on it as the personal tax free allowance is now £12,570, only £23 above their pension income.
